Top 10 Reasons the Phillies will be World Champions

H20
16 pitchers in the National League finished the season with a WHIP under 1.18. 12 pitchers finished the season with an era under 3.10. And, 10 pitchers finished with more than 190 strikeouts. Six pitchers reached all three of these plateaus and it just so happens that Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels are three of them. So reasons 1, 2 and 3 go to H2O. It is worth mentioning that the other three, Jimenez, Wainwright, and Kershaw didn’t make the playoffs.

Joe Blanton is my reason #4. Mark my words, if we win the World Series he will play a pivotal role at some point along the way. In August and September Blanton went 5-0 in eleven starts with a 3.01 era. The Phillies went 10-1 in those same starts, the only loss coming in quality start against former Phillie Brett Myers in which Blanton would go 7 strong innings allowing just one earned run.

Bullpen
I will stick with the Phillies bullpen for reasons 5 through 7. In his last 11 appearances Chad Durbin has pitched 8 innings and given up 2 earned runs. In his last 15 appearances Brad Lidge has pitched 14.1 innings and given up only one earned run adding 10 saves. After the all-star break Ryan Madson posted a 1.50 era with a 0.98 era in August and a 1.26 era in September with a combined 42 strikeouts in 32.2 innings.

A Pitchers AidThe 8th reason the Phillies will win the World Series in 2010 is the also the most important player to the 7 pitchers listed above. In his last 5 post-season series Carlos Ruiz is hitting .342 with a .462 on base percentage and 10 extra base hits. If you want to use the “that was in the past” argument how about he led all National League catchers with a .400 obp and finished second behind Buster Posey with a .302 batting average. And down the stretch in September his stats were .324/.425/.500.

Bottom of the Lineup
If as an opposing player you do not fear Rollins (94% stolen base percentage in 2010), Polanco (2nd in active career at-bats per strikeout ratio), Utley (4 time reigning silver slugger winner), Howard (active at-bat per home run leader), you may want to fear the next four hitters you face just as much. In September and October Jayson Werth hit .300 with 9 home runs, 23 runs scored and 22 runs batted in. In 25 games in September Ibanez hit .340/.385/.577 with 14 extra base hits, 15 runs scored and 16 rbi’s, Shane hit .292/.380/.443 with 10 stolen bases and Carlos Ruiz hit .324/.425/.500. So reason nine goes to the bottom half of our lineup.

Bench Players
The 10th and final reason goes to our bench players. Ross Gload hit .316/.400/.561 with 8 xbh, 10runs and 10rbi in 57 at bats after the all-star break. Wilson Valdez hit .297 with a .392obp in September. Ben Francisco hit .444 with a .778 slugging percentage in 18 at-bats in September. Mike Sweeney’s career .298 batting average speaks for itself.

The Phillies offense is aging quickly. If they were going to do some playoff damage, it should have been last season. They had the pitching and its a shame they couldn’t keep those 4 starters together.